One of the effects of the increased number and heightened stakes of standardized tests is that the roles played by teachers have changed. Specifically, teachers’ institutional tasks have increased because they are expected to take up work related to testing in addition to their regular teaching duties.
Institutional tasks include:
• collecting, organizing, and analyzing data associated with tests
• grouping and regrouping students according to test performance
• developing vertical articulation of the curriculum to align with tests
• coordinating students’ assignments, based on test scores, to remedial programs As a result of spending more time on institutional tasks like these, teachers have less time for instruction in their own classrooms. One study found
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Research shows, for example, that GED recipients perform about as well as high school graduates on standardized tests but have much worse life outcomes because they often lack important qualities such as curiosity, conscientiousness, perseverance, and sociability. ELA teachers could help more students develop these so-called “soft skills” or non-cognitive abilities if they didn’t have to focus on drills for tests. Instead, ELA teachers have to, for instance, cut back on large-scale projects that require perseverance, reduce the number of literary texts that engender the empathy necessary to sociability, and limit opportunities for developing student curiosity. Student learning that could lead in positive directions is diminished when tests prevent teachers from helping students develop the noncognitive abilities that support better life outcomes.
Another limitation on student learning results from the negative perceptions standardized tests can give to students about themselves and their own abilities.